In our gentle yoga or beginner level yoga classes, we often introduce the programme called the Pawanmuktasana series, which is a good foundation for the classical yoga poses. Often considered a programme for the elderly or physically not-so-fit people, it is much more subtle and powerful than meets the eye; even for the experienced yoga practitioner, its effects are highly beneficial because of the way it promotes the flow of prana, or vital energy, in the body.
Pawan means wind, mukta means to liberate or release, and asana is a yoga pose. Consisting of a series of simple movements, pawanmuktasana effectively frees our joints and muscles from stiffness and toxins, and helps to release wind from our intestines. The main idea behind these asanas is to provide suppleness in the joints. Joints will regain flexibility, and hard muscles start to soften with the practice. Beginners cannot ignore these asanas if they wish to avoid injuries while progressing in hatha yoga.
In Western medicine, the joints are considered vulnerable areas of the body, where the flow of energy is easily impeded. Fluids and wind thus tend to accumulate and stagnate at the joints, resulting in rheumatic pains and deficient energy flow throughout the whole body. In the yogic system, pawan is also related to prana, as prana is defined as air. If we understand prana as the life-force or vital energy, then pawanmuktasana can be defined as the poses that liberate the life-force or vitality in us. Thus, from this viewpoint, the practice can have a very powerful healing effect.
Prana is divided into five major components: prana, apana, samana, udana
and vyana. These pranas relate to different movements. So prana is the
forward or primary air and has an upward movement; apana is the downward
moving air, samana is the horizontal or equalizing air; udana is the spiralling
air; and vyana is the diffusive, pervasive air.
When pawanmuktasana is practised with full concentration and awareness,
one can feel how all these pranic movements are stimulated, causing the
energies to be circulated and redistributed. One of the pranas that is
clearly influenced is vyana which governs circulation and nervous
impulses to the periphery and also the movement of the joints.
Part II of the pawanmuktasana series (the digestive series) has a direct influence on apana.
Its effect is very strong on the lower abdominal muscles, pelvic organs
and large intestine. Blood irrigation
is increased through the stimulation of the venous return from the legs,
increasing also the process of elimination. Apana is said to be the power
of disease inherent in the body, the force of devolution and limitation
of consciousness. So by purifying apana, the body is protected from
the forces of degeneration.
The pranas are transmitted throughout the body by the nadis which are
defined as channels or pathways of pranic current. These energy channels
make a complex network of 'energy threads' that hold together
the energy field of the human body. These channels or pathways are
very important for the circulation of prana, and they become obstructed
by inactivity or wrong activity, by wrong thoughts, wrong diet and wrong
lifestyle in general. Through the practice of pawanmuktasana, a stimulating
massage is given to these channels which releases this obstruction.
http://www.yogamag.net/archives/1997/ajan97/pawanmuk.shtml
http://www.yogameditation.com/Articles/Issues-of-Bindu/Bindu-4/Yoga-and-the-finer-energy
